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LifeBridge Health Opens New Emergency Department At Grace Medical Center

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- LifeBridge Health announced Tuesday it has opened a new emergency department and specialty clinics at Grace Medical Center in West Baltimore.

Just 14 months after acquiring the former Bon Secours Baltimore Hospital, the health system debuted renovations and expanded care, including a surgery suite. It's a facelift for the more than 100-year-old building.

The emergency department will be open for its first full day on Tuesday, and then the clinics will open on Monday.

There will now also be a dedicated OB/GYN, pediatrician, ophthalmologist and orthopedic specialist as well as 3D mammography.

"The new emergency department, as well as the renovations to the primary and specialty clinics, are the most visible examples, to date, of LifeBridge Health's commitment to a growing, thriving and healthy West Baltimore community," said Rebecca Altman, vice president and chief integration officer at LifeBridge Health. "Today we begin a new era of healthcare in West Baltimore, and we are so grateful for the many people, including our government champions, community partners and neighbors, who have supported us in our efforts."

An online community celebration will be held Monday at 11 a.m. and will include video tours of the ED and clinic spaces.

"When LifeBridge Health brought Grace Medical Center into our family, we had a vision to ensure that the people of West Baltimore had the health services they need now and in the future. We are so excited to debut the new emergency department and renovated clinic spaces and even more thrilled for what these renovations and additional medical services will mean for the people of West Baltimore," said Daniel Blum, president of Grace Medical Center and senior vice president of LifeBridge Health.

The 17,000-square-foot emergency department has 27 state-of-the-art treatment rooms, a new lobby and an ambulance entrance.

It also features negative pressure rooms which allows patients to stay isolated should they have suspected infectious diseases, such COVID-19.

"We see the new ED as a gift for the community and our team. We have an awesome responsibility to provide the best and most compassionate care inside our new facility," says Reginald Brown., M.D., chief of emergency medicine at Grace Medical Center.

Brown said the facility is a big step in bringing equal access of care to a community that needs it.

"When you talk about Martin Luther King Day that we just celebrated yesterday and healthcare disparities, I think this equalizes the field," he said.

The Grace emergency department sees an average of 20,000 patients a year.

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